Earlier this week we reported on CCP's efforts to catch the individuals that vandalized a real-world monument dedicated to its game EVE Online in Reykjavik, Iceland. An update on the situation in the official Eve Online forums CCP announced that the company has managed to identify those involved in vandalizing the monument and have taken swift and serious actions against all of those involved in its virtual world. The company did not reveal the identities of those involved.

"Firstly, I'll say that the fact that the monument was vandalized is an insult to the entire community, not just to the individual whose name was directly targeted by the vandalism," CCP Falcon wrote in a message on the boards. "Thankfully with the assistance of a number of members of the community, including some of those who were involved with the incident and other members of their own alliance, we've been able to make headway in identifying those responsible."

"Three individuals have been permanently removed from the EVE Community. A total of 7 EVE Online accounts, and 1 Dust 514 account belonging to them have been permanently banned. Another individual who was indirectly involved in the vandalism has received a 6 month ban from EVE Online on their sole registered account," he continued. "The four individuals involved are also blacklisted permanently from attending future Fanfest events."

Falcon ended his update by noting that CCP considers the matter resolved within the EVE universe, but did not rule out the possibility of further action like criminal charges and an attempt to recover the costs to repair the monument.

Comments

With the subject of Real-Vandalizm, that is far more dangerous then the usual EVE "scandals". It starts with just juvenile pranks but that can (potentially) embolden some people to go farther and farther, to the point of violent crimes even.

Case in point is Hazing. It never starts off serious, maybe just making the new members do more chores and mildly embarrassing stuff. Then the next group pushes the envelop a bit more, and so on until, say 25 or 30 years later, the "rituals" include sodomy and whipping. It never starts out that way, but it has the potential to become that unless it is kept well in check.

So they killed accounts worth real money as retaliation for something the law alone has a say in? Interesting. Bet they'd throw a hissyfit if their bank accounts were to be canceled and money kept by the bank themselves.

In what way is it not? You could argue virtual property vs physical property, but that's really just a matter of semantics, especially when that virtual property has a direct trade value with physical property.

But in EVE, the currency does NOT have a "direct trade value". Normally PLEX (what a person buys to sell in-game, and what all of the financial estimates are based on) can only be used as a 30-day subscription, or to create AURUM credits to buy in-game clothing.

Yes, in the past, there have been special promotions allowing a person to buy physical stuff with PLEX (like one where you could buy a video card) but these are just promotions trying to get people to believe there time in EVE is worth something.

In short, it is against the terms of service to sell PLEX for real money.

On the subject of Real-Vandalizm, that is something far more dangerous. It starts with just juvenile pranks but that can (potentially) embolden some people to go farther and farther, to the point of violent crimes.

Case in point is Hazing. It never starts off serious, maybe just making the new members do chores and mildly embarrassing stuff. Then the next group pushes the envelop a bit more, and so on until, say 25 or 30 years later, the "rituals" include sodomy and whipping. It never starts out that way, but it has the potential to become that unless it is kept well in check.

With the way a judge already declared forcing someone to give off their virtual items theft, I really wonder how long EVE can survive before the kind of fraud that happens ingame will have a DA go after it and hang the company for being accessories.